You may have thought a movie about maths on a Saturday night might be a little drab - but that’s where you’re wrong.
Flicks that centre themselves around the subject of mathematics can often inspire and teach us about some key historical figures - and they're not boring.
These must-see mathematics movies have won a ton of awards, and show a different side to the subject that is often compared to marmite - you either love it or hate it.
A Beautiful Mind
Talk about emosh! This incredible movie starring Russell Crowe is a bit of a tear-jerker. It focuses on a lot more than just 1+1=2, that’s for sure.
The American 2001 biographical drama film is based on the life of mathematician John Nash (a Nobel Laureate in Economics and Abel Prize Winner.)
It begins with Nash’s days as a graduate at Princeton University and leads into a harrowing journey of self-discovery with plenty of challenges along the way.
Good Will Hunting
This absolute classic stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams, and is all about a janitor at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is basically a pro at maths.
The self-taught Will Hunting (Matt Damon) solves a difficult mathematics problem anonymously posted by Professor Gerald Lambeau, stunning both students and Lambeau.
When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Lambeau makes a deal with him to get help from a psychotherapist to find direction in his life.
The Imitation Game
Set in 1939, the newly created MI6 recruits Cambridge University mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including the enigma - an unbreakable code.
If that’s not enough to blow your socks off, Turing and his team build a fancy machine to break the code and decipher them.
The Man Who Knew Infinity
This 2015 biographical drama film is based on the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematician.
When he fails college, he doesn’t give up hope, and is determined to pursue his passion for all things numbers.
He contacts Professor G H Hardy and is invited to attend Trinity College where he is forced to leave his wife Januki behind.
The touching mathematics movie brings Ramanujan’s personal story to life and reflects on his many achievements.
The Theory Of Everything
In the 1960’s, genius Cambridge University student and future physicist Stephen Hawking falls in love with Jane Wilde ( Felicity Jones.)
He learns at just 21-years-old that he has motor neuron disease, but despite this, he still continues to break new ground in science and medicine.
When told by his doctor that he has just two years to live, he begins an ambitious study of time with Jane by his side.
Gifted
Living life as a carefree boat repairman, Frank Adler (hunky Chris Evans) is a single man raising a child prodigy - his young niece Mary.
The plot follows the intellectually gifted seven-year-old who is the subject of a custody battle between her maternal uncle and maternal grandmother.
Frank wants her to live a normal life in Florida, unlike his late sister and her mother Diane, and that’s when things start to get personal.
X+Y
Mathematics genius Nathan (Sex Education's Asa Butterfield) is having a hard time building relationships with others at school.
Struggling with autism and the aftermath of his father’s death, he develops a friendship with a young girl (Jo Yang) while competing at an International Mathematics Olympiad.
This heart-felt thought-provoking mathematics movie is a perfect feel good Saturday night choice.
Stand And Deliver
Released in 1988, this one is an oldie but a goldie starring Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips.
L.A high school maths teacher Jamie (Olmos) is being picked on by tough students (Lou Diamond Phillips) and pressured by his bosses.
Based on a true story, the movie focuses on teacher Jamie changing the school culture of Latino working-class students when he soon realizes their untapped potential.
Pi
Mathematics whizz Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) suffers with psychological delusions of paranoia and awful headaches.
In his messy Chinatown apartment, he fools around with equations and his homemade super advanced computer.
After encountering a mysterious number, he finds himself a target of Wall Street agents using the number for profits!
The Oxford Murders
Hey, it’s that guy from the Lord of the Rings!
This mathematics movie centres around American maths student Martin (Elijah Wood) who transfers to Oxford in hope of getting philosopher Arthur Seldom to look over his thesis.
The shocking murder of Martin’s landlady plunges the clever pair into a mathematical mystery, could an unsolvable maths problem be the answer to her death?
